Monday, 30 April 2007

Another winning set from the awesome ladies at Tarte! The Ready, Set, Glow 5-piece Brightening Collection is exclusive to QVC.com at the great price of US$45 (retail value US$77) for a mini Tipsy cheekstain, full size Elle & Emmett double-ended lipgloss, full size Rest Assured highlighting pencil with brightening cream, mini Sugar Daddy glistening powder in champagne and a full size Park Avenue Princess bronzer.

If you're new to the Tarte line, QVC is a great place to score some awesome deals such as the Tarte Intro to Beauty 5-piece Best Sellers Discovery Kit, Stay All Day set, Spring Fever 5-piece Trend Kit, Vitamin Infused Lipgloss Trio powered by Borba, Lip Locked Lipgloss Trio, All Eyes Complete Look Eye Palette with Brushes and the Little Black Dress palette with 2 brushes.

The Susie NY website has been updated with the new nailpolish range. The new nailpolish formula is supposed to have improved shine and durability by 120%. I also picked up two of the Contrast Blushers today, #3 Pink and #4 Rose. What I liked about these blushes are that the middle and darkest shades are matte while the lightest shade is shimmery which means that you have the options of either a velvety matte finish or a more glowy finish depending on whether you choose to use the highlighter shade. The accompanying brush feels quite soft and does a decent job.http://www.susie-ny.com/index2.html

Love Clover's new Marshmallow Fit Foundation N (2415yen for 30g, SPF24 and PA++) will debut in Japan on 7 June. It comes in a pump bottle, which is a good improvement over the previous packaging of Marshmallow Fit Foundation which was an open-mouth bottle that inevitably got very messy. However, the shade selection is still extremely limited with only 3 shades available.

Got a chance to take photos of a few more of the Jill Stuart blushes so thought I'd just post them here for easier viewing. According to the SA, the most popular shade is #1 Shy Pink but personally I prefer #8 Aurora Rosa which is a more vibrant pink. #4 Rose Shadow looks like a dull slightly muddy colour in the pot but when applied, it's a natural tan blush that is neither red/pink nor muddy.

Saturday, 28 April 2007

Couldn't resist picking up this Lavshuca Eyecolor Select BU-1 (a gorgeous combination of metallic dove grey, light periwinkle blue, baby blue and light metallic blue) and Jewel Lip (mini lipstick) PK1 set today which came with a free Lavshuca heart-shaped mousepad. There was also another set with the BR1 palette and Jewel Lip BE2. These are the shades that are used on the two spokesmodels in the promo images. I love collecting the promotional freebies that Lavshuca always comes out with!

Friday, 27 April 2007

Today, I'll like to introduce another great blush series, Excel's Gradation Cheeks (1890yen). My longstanding MU addiction was eyeshadows but lately, I've been on a shimmery blush kick. The great thing about Excel's blushes is the superb silky texture with a very fine pearlescent shimmer that more than makes up for the ugly gold plastic packaging. The texture is most similar to Gransenbon and Nars blushes except that you get 4 shades in each Excel Gradation Cheek, that gives you more options in terms of blending and highlighting. The case includes with a soft brush that is quite handy and does a good job. There are currently 5 shades in the series:

G1: Rose Pink (rosy pink)

G2: Strawberry Pink (blue-based light to medium baby pink)

G3: Honey Orange (beige and nude)

G4: Chocolate Brown (beige and rosy browns)

G5: Apricot Peach (peachy coral)

The shades are all very wearable and flattering on my MAC NC20 skintone. G3 does not show up as well (except for the shimmer) as the rest but that's only to be expected since the shades in it are nude/beige tones. G5 was just released last week in Japan. There is also a Gradation Powder GP1 which comes in the same case with various shades of white and pinkish white that can be used as an all-over highlighter. Excel is made by SANA. Excel's Spring Powder Curler (840yen) with a 39mm rim is also one of the top-selling eyelash curlers in Japan.

Monday, 23 April 2007

Did some swatches of the new shades of Lavshuca's mini lipstick, Jewel Lips (1050yen). These just arrived in stores over the weekend although the official release date was supposed to be 1 May. A couple of the swatches are unlabelled because I forgot which shades they were! I didn't manage to do all 22 shades because (a) I ran out of space on my hand and (b) some of the testers were in too gross a condition that I didn't even want to touch them! I never understand why anyone dares to apply lipstick testers directly to their lips in the stores. The Japanese are supposed to be super hygiene freaks but I've lost count of the number of Japanese women that I've seen applying mascara or lipstick directly to their lashes/lips in the stores. Huge ick factor...

The Jewel lips have a sheer, glossy consistency that can be layered for greater intensity. But I think the photos of the models on the official website are somewhat misleading as you're not going to get that opaque creamy finish like what you see on the models' lips. Still, these are quite worthwhile checking out if you prefer lightweight, glossy lipsticks. Especially for people like me who find it hard to finish a tube of lipstick, these mini lipsticks are an affordable option for trying out new shades.

Finally, a pic of the Jill Stuart summer collection due out in Japan on 1 June! The pic is from the June '07 issue of Maquia. The Brilliance Eyes #5 palette, as mentioned in my earlier post, and the 5 new shades of nail polish will be limited edition but the rest of the collection including 2 new Lip Lustres and 2 new Eye Jellies will be permanent. The Brilliance Eyes #5 look like quite an unusual combination of colours for Jill Stuart. Looking forward to adding it to my collection in June :-)

The June 2007 issue of Voce was just published today in Japan and it comes with 2 small tubes of RMK's Gloss Lips in #10 Holographic Orange, a coral orange with gold shimmer, and #18 Sheer Pink, a super sparkley baby pink, as part of a promotion for RMK's 10th anniversary. They are 6g each. Definitely one of the best GWPs that Voce has ever offered! Unfortunately the rest of the magazine is not that interesting, as they did not publish a comprehensive catalog of the new summer collections as they usually do for spring and fall. The new issue of Maquia has several pages devoted to the summer collections but only for 29 brands. The new issue of Maquia comes with a DVD for facial exercises and samples of Pond's Lifting Face Cream Cleansing and Facial Foam. The same DVD set + Ponds' samples will be included in the July issue of Voce. I haven't seen Biteki yet but hopefully it will be better.

Thursday, 19 April 2007

This is MM's summer collection, just out in stores in Tokyo today although the official release date was supposed to be this Saturday. There are also a few nailpolishes in the collection but I didn't get those today.

Frozen Splash Eyes (cream eyeshadows) in 6 shades, 840yen each, 4g. These are very shimmery and dry down quite nicely with a texture and shade selection that is almost identical to Pied Nus' Sparkling Eyes as you can see in the photo of the swatches where I swatched some PN Sparkling Eyes besides the Frozen Splash Eyes. I guess that's not surprising since both PN and MM are made by Shiseido but still I can't help but think that it's just lazy that the creators at MM don't even bother to come up with more unique shades rather than just rehash what has already been done before. These are still an affordable, good buy as the texture is actually quite good, smooth without being oily, spreads evenly and dries down nicely to a sparkley finish that is just as shimmery as PN Sparkling Eyes. The packaging does feel much cheaper than PN Sparkling Eyes which comes in a heavy glass pot. The Frozen Splash Eyes are packaged in a small, light plastic pot which is convenient for travel. The texture is also similar to that of Shiseido The Makeup Hydropowder Eyes but I think Shiseido The Makeup has more vibrant shades. The Frozen Splash Eyes series come in mostly cool icy shades. The most appealing colours are GR782 (light green that has less teal tones than the PN version) and BL213 (light metallic blue). The GD shade is also quite lovely but the YE is just too yellow. The good news is that these are permanent.

Neo Automatic Eyeliners in #34 (icy blue-tinted white) and BL444 (vibrant royal blue) and Lash Expander and Lash Enamel Glamour in bright blue. These four items are limited edition and cost 1260yen each. Lash Expander is a fibre-based lengthening waterproof mascara while Lash Enamel Glamour is a non-fibre based volumising waterproof mascara. If you have fragile or sparse lashes, I would not recommend these mascaras as they can be quite hard to remove even with a cleansing oil. I had to literally scratch them off the back of my hand as massaging it with just the cleansing oil was not enough.

Wednesday, 18 April 2007

The Jill Stuart counter called me today to say that the Brilliance Eyes palettes were finally back in stock so I dropped by to pick up some for CPs. Also picked up the powder foundation GWP set in #101, the lightest shade, blushes #4 Rose Shadow and #7 Glowing Red and Brilliance Eyes 3 Amber Glaze. The powder foundation set includes the foundation, the new Day Care Essence SFP30 and deluxe samples sizes of their cleansing oil and cream wash. #7 Glowing Red is a light cherry shade, less pink toned than #8 Aurora Rosa while #4 is a muted greyed rose. Both apply semi-matte with hardly visible shimmer. The powder foundation has visible shimmers when you look at it in the pan but these are not that obvious when applied.

Also got news on the upcoming summer collection from the very friendly SA. The collection will be released in early June. The good news is that there is a new Brilliance Eyes palette in white, pink, blue and black and the bad news is that it will be limited edition. There will also be two permanent new shades of Eye Jellies in white and khaki (similar to the limited edition version from Summer '06 but more red-toned), new shades of Lip Lustres and nail polishes as well as nail seals. The Brilliance Eyes palette will probably be the most sought after as it is limited edition and JS LE items have an annoying tendency to sell out on the first day of release. So I will say here first that I am NOT doing CPs for this palette as they will be next to impossible to obtain. So please do not PM me to CP it. If I do get extra palettes, I will probably only have enough for a few close friends as the counters here do not allow customers to buy more than one per person and there are only so many Jill Stuart counters that I can go to.

Tuesday, 17 April 2007

Picked up some Gransenbon Gran de Eyes palettes yesterday. From left to right are #2 Golden Glace, #14 Maple Berry and #8 Mermaid Kiss. #8 was actually discontinued sometime ago but it is quite similar to the new #17 Glamorous Love. I'm also lemming #1 Urban Rose, a very pretty berry-toned palette, but as it was out of stock, I'll have to get it another day.

These palettes are tiny! But I like how compact and portable they are. They are about the same size as a Kiss palette but in a much more elegant case with a pink metal lid. The texture and colour payoff is also very similar to the Kiss palettes except that all the shades in the Gransenbon palettes are powder eyeshadows. Each palette comes with a double-ended sponge-tip applicator. I've found that these sponge tip applicators look flimsy but they are actually much better than brushes for applying these eyeshadows as they help to 'pack on' the colour for greater intensity whereas if I use a brush, I need to apply several layers to get the same level of intensity. The colour combinations are pretty, feminine shades that complement one another well. These are 1680yen each, which is not too bad as it comes up to still less than the price of one MAC eyeshadow :-)

Monday, 16 April 2007

Stila's summer collection is up on Sephora.com. Doesn't look that exciting to me, but Stila's summer collections are usually a miss for me anyway. Descriptions and pics are from Sephora.com.

Summer Eyeshadow Trio, US$32 each.

Limited edition eyeshadow palettes pressed with an exotic sundial design reminiscent of a stylish getaway on the Mexican Riviera. The shades in each palette are festive and sparkle with warmth on the skin. A delicious complement to the sun-bleached sands and deep blue waters of your favorite tropical paradise, the shades are easy to wear and blend down to a very sheer, soft look. Each palette comes complete with base, crease, and liner shades.

A shimmering dry oil mist for the body that's a must-have for a day at the beach, a tropical holiday, or just about anytime your skin is going to take center stage! What it is formulated to do:Adds a gorgeous natural looking tint with a hint of shimmer. Formula contains macadamia and jojoba nut, plus sandalwood and barley extracts for fabulous moisturization. 3.4 oz for US$26.

Sorry for the delay in new posts as over the weekend, I've been hooked on watching Season 1 of Battlestar Galactica, which is simply one of the smartest, funniest and thrilling shows I've seen this year. That and I was inundated with CPs over the weekend...still figuring how to lug 14 huge packages to the post office tomorrow. But I did manage to get swatches of Maquillage's new Double Shiny Eyes. From left to right in the photo are SV867, GR166, PK763, BE361, GD861, BL165 and VI164. All of them are shiny, icy cool metallic colours. The consistency is identical to Pied Nus Sparkling Eyes, feels like a firm cream in the pot, spreads very smoothly and evenly. It dries down to a sleek, non-gritty finish. The only drawback is that the Highlight Colours are too similar to one another (in the bottom row of the pic under their corresponding Shadow Colours), which makes them redundant if you buy more than one of these. To be honest, I prefer Visee's Aqua Shining Eyes in terms of both the shade selection, packaging and texture. Aqua Shining Eyes is also more affordable at about 2/3 the price of Double Shiny Eyes after the drugstore discount of 25% in Japan for Visee (Maquillage is not discounted).

What I really liked though was the new limited edition Shining Design Powder that I had posted about earlier. If you're looking for an illuminating bronzer or highlighter for a healthy sunkissed glow, this is definitely worth checking out. The powder is extremely silky and velvety to touch with a fine shimmer and no loud glitter. All four shades are gorgeous and flattering, not too warm or dark but also not frosty. Unfortunately, it's not that cheap at 2625yen for the refill and 1050yen for the case.

I was disappointed that Tarte did not release a larger eyeshadow palette but nevertheless, the collection is still worth checking out. Just to add, another must-have Tarte product currently available only on Sephora.com is the Lovin' The Fast Stain set which includes True Love Cheek Stain (sheer watermelon red) and a mini Rise & Shine Plumping Lip Stain in Cherry (sheer red) (US$30). True Love is my favourite Tarte cheek stain after Flush.

Thursday, 12 April 2007

If you've shopped at drugstores in Japan, there is a very high likelihood that you would have seen the Bihada Ichizoku line of face masks and skincare. It's a popular brand made by Labo Labo with packaging that features characters from a popular serial novel. Here's an article on the origin of the brand:

7. Cream 2100yen (4.6 stars): Described as an "aqua gel", this is a moisturiser in a gel formula. Contains egg protein, pearl extract. On this webpage, just scroll down to the middle to see what it looks like upon application.

My current fragrance lemming! Stella McCartney Sheer eau de toilette spray (US$52 for 3.4oz on Sephora, 8190yen for 100ml in Japan) with notes of lemon, green apple, celestial rose and amber. To be released 3 May in Japan.

Cosme.net has published the second part of their new spring products ranking. Part 2 focuses on eyeshadows as ranked by different age groups. I've included the average star rating for each product. Reviewers can award between 1 to 7 stars.

For teens:

Kate Glam Trick Eyes (4.8 stars)

Aube Jewellery Shower Eyes (4.9 stars)

Maquillage Clean Contrast Eyes (4.8 stars)

Jill Stuart Brilliance Eyes (5.3 stars)

For ladies in their 20s:

Lunasol Skin Modelling Eyes (5.6 stars)

Esprique Precious Light On Eyes (4.9stars)

Dior single eyeshadow (4.6 stars)

Jill Stuart Brilliance Eyes (5.3 stars)

For ladies in their 30s:

Lunasol Skin Modelling Eyes (5.6 stars)

Testimo Frame Impact Eyes (4.6 stars)Kate Glam Trick Eyes (4.8 stars)

For ladies in their 40s:

Esprique Precious Light On Eyes (4.9stars)

Lunasol Skin Modelling Eyes (5.6 stars)

Aube Jewellery Shower Eyes (4.9 stars)

The palettes are also ranked in terms of how shimmery and pigmented they are:

Found this lovely photo of Maquillage's forthcoming summer collection (details in my earlier post). The theme is "Cool Sunshine Makeup", the idea being to create a fresh, glowy and cool look even in the summer heat.